Neil Mackie Photography: Mull-ing it over

Firstly I must apologise for the bare bones look of the blog. I decided last week to start a new blog as I have a new nature site in the works but as usual I left it too late to do anything aesthetic to it so I'm afraid you'll have to take it as it is at the moment!

So I'm on Mull. At 6:30am this morning I didn't think I would be. I woke up to roughly 8 inches of snow in Lanark and had to clear it off my car. Although the residential roads were white I thought (mistakenly!) the main roads would be clear. I considered turning back twice in the first 10 minutes(you could say I was Mulling it over) but with nowhere to turn I just had to go with it. In the end I only just made the 10am ferry – it was already loaded when I arrived at 9:35 and the Calmac staff didn't look too pleased with me.

This is my second trip to Mull in the last 6 months. My trip in October was a huge failure. My main target species is Otters and unfortunately in October they weren't playing ball. I only saw 1 in 4 days and that was on the way to the boat home. I saw plenty of Curlews and Herons but not much else.

Skip forward to today and things are a bit different. I only found one Otter today but I found it in better conditions than the one in October. I also came across 2 juvenile White Tailed Eagles, lots of Red Deer, a few Kestrels, the usual Buzzards and a female Hen Harrier. Although Mull is famous for its eagles this is the first time I have seen eagles here other than during the breeding season so I was quite excited. Today was also the first time I've seen a female Harrier not at a distance.

Finding Otters is tough in weather like todays. Despite the snow at home here in Mull it is clear and today was a clear blue sky day. Great for most people, a nightmare for finding Otters. With the harsh sun there is too much contrast and it is difficult seeing an otter with so much glare coming off the water. Browns become black and I reckon I probably drove by otters today that I'd spot on a more overcast day.

I think I've rambled enough, I'm tired so I'm going to get into bed and read my book for a while before going to sleep. Here are a few unedited shots from today. Hopefully more of the same tomorrow!